Project Brace, an Ontario-wide investigation into online child sexual exploitation, has resulted in charges against a 52-year-old Whitby man, according to a November 9 report by Durham Radio News.
The local accused is among 17 people arrested in the initiative. Police reported a combined 55 charges and the seizure of 424 electronic devices.
Whitby accused not identified
Durham Radio News reports that the Whitby man faces two counts of possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material and one count of possession of that material for the purpose of transmitting.
The report says he remains in custody and is to appear in an Oshawa court on a date still to be determined. His name was not released in that account. Some accused in the broader investigation are subject to court-ordered publication restrictions; no identity is inferred here.
All charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.
Co-ordinated online investigation
The OPP release, reproduced by Ontario newsrooms, describes work by 15 police services in partnership with its Child Sexual Exploitation Unit. Investigators targeted people suspected of making, possessing or distributing child sexual abuse material.
Durham Regional Police were among the services participating in the provincial strategy, Durham Radio News reports.
Police said the operation did not directly identify victims, but investigators initiated 23 cases that remain active. The device-seizure count is an overall Project Brace result, not a number attributed specifically to the Whitby accused.
The initiative is distinct from Durham’s earlier announcement about a separate operation targeting the purchase of sexual services from children. The two announcements concern different investigations and should not be combined into a single arrest total.
Police ask anyone with information about child sexual exploitation to contact their local police service or report it through Cybertip.ca.
Sources
- Durham Radio News: November 9 Whitby charges report
- OPP release and charged-persons addendum reproduced by OrilliaMatters
Featured image: original conceptual editorial illustration, not documentary photography.
